The main intention of this meetup is to start building a community of users, both professional & hobbyists, to grow knowledge & inspire others with the work being created by Auckland based Fusion users. I will have some content prepared to present, but will vary it based on the skills of the attendees. If any of you have already created anything with Fusion 360, and are keen to show it off then you are more than welcome to.

I'm hoping to get a sponsor for some food & drinks for the evening, so please RSVP if you are going to attend. The location may change within the next 48 hours.

Thursday, 26 May 2016

Or, how I went to buy sushi for lunch and ended up joining another CAD Meetup group!

A chance meeting, at the sushi shop, with Fusion 360 guru Scott Moyse led me to his new Autodesk Fusion 360 Meetup for users of this Product Design/Simulation/CAM platform.

Scott is launching the Auckland based group soon, but you can join up now to get meeting notices. For Mainlanders Gavin Bath hosts a Christchurch Fusion 360 Meetup which has already had its first meeting.

If you are interested in learning, or sharing your knowledge, about Fusion 360 signup!

Thursday, 04 June 2015

Scott recently posted about the new A360 Integrated Viewer which can view many native design file formats. It is integral in many of the A360 portals but is also available as a separate on-line viewer:

Drag your file into the viewer to upload it (having read the associated terms and conditions…)

View and share!

Scott’s post has a lot of info on the new viewer but the discussion about the future of Autodesk’s Design Web Format (DWF) and Autodesk Design Review (see the comments in addition to the article) is well worth reading for current users of DWF & ADR.

Autodesk Design Review development may have stalled at 2013 (which still works fine) but I’m glad to see DWF still has a future. It is an elegant way to share 3D model data with the object properties intact and still handles 2D sheet sets better than PDF (faster to publish, much smaller files and better view/print quality).

One huge advantage of an on-line viewer is elimination of the viewer install hurdle. That was often impossible due to IT lockdown or, in the case of iOS/OSX, the operating system not being supported.

While the ability to view native formats is awesome the A360 viewer is still rather primitive compared to Autodesk Design Review. Viewing is fine but limitations show when it comes to interacting with the model for mark-up/measure, sectioning tools and feeding mark-ups back to the authoring applications.

As Scott mentions they are working to close the gap — at least cloud based software is much easier to update — but there is still lots to do.

I have been a participant in the Autodesk discussion forums for 21 years now. Wow, my participation is old enough to drink. As part of that participation I have mentioned:

The Design Web Format (DWF) is not dead. Autodesk will continue to use it for Autodesk Vault as well as our new cloud-based solutions.

Autodesk Design Review (ADR) 2013 is still freely available for download. Like DWF, it continues to be an integral part of Vault. The DWF format did not change with the 2014 and 2015 versions of our design applications, so ADR can still handle DWF files produced by our latest offerings.

Friday, 17 April 2015

I’ve been doing a few software installs recently; updates to Autodesk Building Design Suite 2015 at the previous workplace and a fresh install at the new one. As a result I’ve come to really appreciate Autodesk Application Manager; one of the best support applications Autodesk have ever made.

Remember the pain?

Install an app — or more like a dozen for the Design Suites — then spend hours finding which have been updated, downloading patches and installing (or updating deployments) on the machine. That is history as Autodesk Application Manager makes it a one click process, well nearly. You still do have to select which updates and click install but that is trivial compared to the alternative!

Updates tailored to your device:

The Application Manager looks at the software installed (not just the software in the suite), the user subscription rights, the device and existing patches to decide what is needed. I was impressed that the same Design Suite installed on my Tablet (where had just picked AutoCAD Architecture & Revit) only got a those updates, my desktop picking up the full set for all the installed applications.

Download overhead shared:

If you have multiple machines to update Application Manager can eliminate duplicated download overhead and time.

In Settings>Files tick the “Use shared storage or content downloads” and set the path to a common network folder all your PCs can access.

The first machine to encounter a new update will download the install file to the shared folder. Other machines will check the folder first and install from the existing download. With some updates being up to a gigabyte (Recap) you can save a lot of download data and time.

You can export and import Application Manager settings to easily configure multiple machines.

First phase of a cloud delivery framework:

The Application Manager framework currently delivers:

For the User:

Desktop notification of update availability

Delivery and install of updates: 'The best experience is no experience', not to get in the way of productivity

There are still some limitations — local user rights may need admin permission, users can ignore notifications — but the system is a vast improvement.

Updates are just the start:

Autodesk have put in place the framework to support a far more comprehensive solution. The future could include full installs and possibly even Microsoft Office 365’like click to run. In that case you can start using the core software almost immediately while the rest of it installs in the background.

And using Autodesk PLM 360 to do it!

It was interesting to hear the data source for the system is a case of Autodesk ‘eating its own dog food’. The Product Data Master, a complex mesh of products, applications and applicable updates is being managed with Autodesk PLM 360. The only glitch I’ve seen was Navisworks wanting to install a language update for a language pack I hadn’t installed. This disappeared off the list after a couple of days, presumably after the Product Data Master was updated.

As the complexity of software increases it is nice some attention is being given to making it easier to manage.

I did have some warning, seen but not used the beta, and like the look of the new simpler rendering, enhanced point cloud features and BIM coordination using Navisworks linking or BIM 360 Glue integration.

* My travels and workflow around projects delayed it rather than any technical or product concerns!

Thursday, 05 February 2015

It was an early start for a call to learn about some big changes to Autodesk software purchases from 1 February 2016 onwards.

New commercial seats of most stand-alone desktop software (not Design Suites) will only be available on ‘pay as you go’ Desktop Subscription, not as Perpetual Licenses or the current annual Maintenance Subscription.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TodayAutodesk, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADSK) announced that new commercial seats of most standalone desktop software products will be available only by Desktop Subscription beginning February 1, 2016. Through these changes, Autodesk is continuing its transition to subscription-based offerings for its products, which provide customers a simplified product management and deployment experience, and makes it easier to introduce new tools and technology into the workflow with lower upfront cost and the ability to pay as you go.

"How the world is designed and made is changing, and how software is delivered is changing as well. The companies that embrace these changes will lead their industries toward a more nimble, connected and richer future,” said Andrew Anagnost, Autodesk senior vice president of Industry Strategy & Marketing. "Our customers have long asked for greater flexibility and more value from their software investments. The shift to subscription allows Autodesk to deliver both, as well as an improved user experience and easier access to a broader portfolio of technology.”

Autodesk customers who have purchased perpetual licenses prior to February 1, 2016 will be able to continue to use those licenses, and customers on Maintenance Subscription will continue to receive corresponding benefits for as long as their subscription remains active. Autodesk will also continue to offer Cloud Services Subscriptions.

“With today’s announcement, we are giving our customers a full year to plan for these changes, and will continue to be transparent about our plans,” continued Anagnost. “Autodesk will be working closely with our customers and partners to ease the impact of these changes, and we are committed to making the transition as smooth as possible.”

Wednesday, 25 June 2014

A couple of presentations at the AutoCAD Blogger Day gave an insight into how changes in development methods, hardware/operating system capabilities and cloud infrastructure have driven evolution of the AutoCAD “platform” on, and beyond, the desktop.

We’re not in Kansas anymore…?

It was not a new publication, not made for sales/marketing and not about AutoCAD 2015.

OZ presented a future AutoCAD user experience based on customer research, developments of the desktop application and (when it was written) a future beyond the desktop.

Oz, the vision

OZ was not about a software application, especially a traditional desktop one. It imagined your design, your project, as the centre of the experience. Devices present a window to your design from any location. Software on the device or a web service enable creation, manipulation and sharing of information or design intent anywhere in a connected world.

OZ was made for the AutoCAD team; about three hundred & fifty people with more than ten million customers to satisfy. It demonstrated a set of principles, a vision, of how products could work together and one aspect of what AutoCAD could become.

Defining the next AutoCAD?

I suspect steering the future of AutoCAD is one of the toughest assignments in the CAD world. While the industry specific platforms, like Revit/Inventor, can target defined workflows and outputs AutoCAD is used everywhere. That could be anything from 2D drafting to complex 3D geometric solid, surface or mesh modelling. In addition to that the AutoCAD platform also provides a base for many Autodesk, and third party, vertical solutions targeting specific tasks.

That said there are defined goals, themes, for each AutoCAD release. Some enhance, some might say fix!, existing commands/workflows or introduce new features. Others address changing hardware, operating system or cloud computing requirements and opportunities.

Some of what was imagined in OZ is in the AutoCAD we see today, other aspects point to an intriguing future.

AutoCAD User Experience Design gets Agile

The AutoCAD User Experience design and development process has changed. JoAnna shared how a traditional sequential process has been replaced with Agile development practices.

This is more akin to an IT start up approach with continuous development of features and immediate feedback. The AutoCAD team use feature focused customer councils during design and development. These are based on requirements from customer site visits, surveys or product development directions.

This may begin as early as the feature definition phase, literally post-it note process or paper UI design, or with very early code samples. There is more info, and interview with JoAnna, in this Autodesk Labs post from 2012:

From where I sit in Autodesk, I'm seeing the AutoCAD User Experience team behave suspiciously like a lean startup. I think they're lean because for the first time in history, the AutoCAD team is not following a waterfall development process, they're using Agile practices…

Looking at AutoCAD 2015, and AutoCAD 360, some of what was hinted at in that post from 2012 has already been delivered. There is plenty of potential for future development but the direction is clear.

The Customer Council connection

Agile development relies on rapid iteration and constant feedback. Major initiatives like Point Cloud integration, Connected Desktop and Geolocation were developed with dedicated Customer Councils.

In 2012/13 I was involved in a Customer Council for what became the Design Feed in AutoCAD WS (now AutoCAD 360) web and desktop application. Although I didn’t realise at the time this was a first hand experience of the sort of development agile practices bring.

The feature was released to a small customer group using AutoCAD WS. We were challenged to use it in a realistic way, collaborating on a real world project with participants across several time zones.

We saw several iterations of the feature during that process in the web application and later tested a version in the desktop application. The initial desktop implementation was in a web deployed zero footprint development package literally hand built for the task. By the end of the process we had used maybe half a dozen iterations of the feature, on web and desktop, as it developed.

This is quite different to the traditional alpha, beta, release process where a bundle of features are developed and assembled into ‘a release’ package for evaluation with a limited number of pre-release test builds.

Although it wasn’t explicitly stated I suspect the future of AutoCAD will be more fluid evolution between the annual releases. CAD Managers wrangling large install bases may object but I can see real potential in a regular update cycle (similar to Windows Update) to push new features. Looking at the updates, not just for AutoCAD, since 2015 first released perhaps we are already there!

What about My Feedback, Beta?

While agile development has driven user experience design there is still a considerable ‘traditional’ engineering effort delivering and testing release packages and updates.

The betas are very important but I suspect many have noticed they are no longer only place development is driven. While it should focus on ‘does this code work in the real world’ there was once considerable new feature/wish list debate in the beta world.

Veteran testers, like me!, may have noticed this has reduced as often those conversations happen in Customer Councils long before beta builds appear. That is not to diminish the importance of beta as a place to voice your thoughts but it is not the only way you can influence development.

If you want to be involved in the private—as opposed to public Autodesk Labs previews—Customer Councils, Beta/Previews or research survey/visits the Autodesk Feedback Community at beta.autodesk.com is the place to sign up.

So, new process, new AutoCAD? On to 2015…

My AutoCAD 2015 arrived as part of my Building Design Suite Premium suite, so was a bit behind the stand-alone release. I’ve had some time to explore the new version and post-release updates. More on that in my next Blogger day post…

Disclosure: Travel, some accommodation and meals provided by Autodesk, see disclosure page for details.

Friday, 09 May 2014

If you are interested in learning about laser scanning, photogrammetry or other reality data with Autodesk ReCap (part of Autodesk 360 & Building Design Suites):

There is a free webinar series being hosted by the Autodesk Reality Solutions team. If you want to know more about how to incorporate laser scanning, photogrammetry or other reality data into your workflow, this might be a great resource for you. These are available to everyone, no matter what country you are in*.

The first scheduled webinar on May 13th will focus on 3D laser scanners and ReCap entitled "The basics of terrestrial 3D laser scanning with ReCap". Please use this link to sign up: